Karen McDonald

Karen McDonald comes to Literacy Minnesota by way of Peace Corps Response and, more recently, AmeriCorps of Central Texas. In her early career, Karen served as infant and maternal health specialist in collaboration with United Way of Tucson and Early Head Start. She attended University of Arizona College of Education graduate school, earning a M.A. in Language, Literacy & Culture. This led to opportunities to teach in higher education, where she enjoyed developing teacher professional development curriculum including TESOL related courses.

Karen’s experience ranges from several years with the USAF at Defense Language Institute English Language Center (DLIELC), where she completed a month-long Combat Bootcamp for civilians deployed to teach in war zones, to graduate level instruction for future ESOL instructors at University of Comoros in Republic of Comoros in Africa. She also served on a team providing English for Specific Purposes (ESP) on a U.N. Peacekeepers base in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Karen is also an avid writer and has been tasked with documenting stories of immigration and human global migration. She holds advanced certification in the Science of Yoga. Karen taught yoga throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. She particularly enjoys sharing yoga-based Stress Management techniques with education professionals. Finally, Karen hails from a family of artists and, as a painter, participates in gallery shows around the Twin Cities area.